


Frozen Heart

by raptor_moon



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Arc Reactor Issues, Gen, Science Bros, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-28
Updated: 2018-02-19
Packaged: 2018-12-08 04:42:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 6,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11639151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raptor_moon/pseuds/raptor_moon
Summary: An Avengers mission runs into unexpected complications.





	1. Dissolving Iron

“Missile lock detected.” JARVIS voice rang through the Quinjet. “Deploying chaff and flares.” 

“Where did it come from?” Black Widow expertly piloted around the debris field. From his position in the co-pilot’s seat, Hawkeye noted that the smoke left oily black streaks down the windshield and the Quinjet seemed to shudder when it penetrated the smoke. Moments later warning lights started flashing all over the board. 

“We need to make an emergency landing.” Natasha stated calmly, only her white-knuckled grip on the controls hinting at her fear.

Clint scanned the frozen mountain range as the jet gave another shudder and the engines failed completely. “Not an option.” He opened the com lines, “I’m lowering the rear hatch, everybody out. We need to eject.”

The hatch began to drop and ground to a halt. As Tony donned the suit and Steve grabbed his shield, Bruce turned to see the problem and transformed in the three steps to the door. The Hulk smashed the hatch and dropped out of the Quinjet, using part of the door to surf the air currents and sled down the mountainside. Captain America followed, “I’ll keep an eye on Hulk, stick with them.” 

Ironman flew out and surveyed the damage. He watched the vehicle disintegrating before his eyes. “Come on, eject already.” He breathed a sigh of relief when the cockpit section separated moments later, shooting them up and clear of the debris. He followed their retreating shape, counting the seconds until the chutes should have opened. “JARVIS, shouldn’t their chutes have opened by now?”

“Yes sir, they are in the appropriate altitude range and sufficient time has elapsed. I believe there is a mechanical failure.” 

Clint and Natasha stared at each other. The initial acceleration of ejection had blown them clear of the jet but any relief they felt quickly faded as they reached the top of the arc and began to fall, with no sign of chute deployment.

Tony was moving before JARVIS had finished speaking. He flew up to the seat assembly and tried to pull open the rear panel to release the chute. It took a swift kick to get the panel to open and several more tense seconds while he rewired connections before the parachute released and opened, yanking the cockpit away from his hands. As Tony watched their descent, his left boot repulsor and right gauntlet repulsor began to stutter. He quickly calculated where the assassin twins would land and began a hopefully controlled descent into the approximate area.

Steve looked up as he hit the ground. His eyes were drawn to the black smoke and debris left from the disintegrating Quinjet. He searched the sky for the telltale flash of red and gold and the parachute from the Quinjet cockpit. He breathed a sigh of relief as he saw the chute open tracked their descent, then he turned his attention back to the finding the Hulk. 

***

“J, what made the Quinjet crash?” Tony asked as he tried to maintain altitude with the repulsors acting up. “A little smoke and goo should not have disabled it.”

JARVIS paused before answering. “Preliminary data suggests nanites, metal consuming nanobots.”

“Shit, J is the suit compromised?”

“Scanning now, Sir.”

Unfortunately, Tony got his answer when his left boot repulsor failed completely while he was still high in the air.

“Sir, I recommend immediate evacuation of the suit. If the nanites reach the arc reactor…”

“On it!” Ironman raced towards the ground. At the last minute he pulled up, arresting his forward motion as JARVIS opened the suit and he tumbled towards the ground. He rolled to a stop in the soft snow and stopped on his back. He looked up at his suit hovering above him.

“To eliminate the nanites we should blow the suit.” Tony said as he sat up.

“Sir, when I blow the suit you will lose all comms.”

“We will lose it anyway when the nanobots get to that wiring, and we need to destroy them and the suit while we still can. Give our location to SHIELD for rescue and contact the others for rendezvous near with the landing point of the cockpit. They are closest to the mountain base where we might find shelter. Then blow the suit, you know what to do.”

“You will be at the greatest danger from the cold, sir. Please take care.”

JARVIS took the armor straight up to a safe height and blew the suit. As Tony watched his own personal fireworks show, he brought his arm up to shade his eyes. The sunlight glinted off his watch, and he suddenly remembered the wiring in his undersuit which could provide a path to the ARC reactor. He stood quickly and stripped off his undersuit, watch, even the metal buckle from his jeans. He was thankful he had been working on delicate electrical systems and had his antistatic rubber boots on so his feet would stay dry and fairly warm, but jeans and two layers of t-shirts would not keep him warm when the sun went down. He pulled his long sleeves over his hands and began his chilly hike.


	2. Grounding Iron

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the short chapter, but I was trying to keep to a weekly update schedule...

Steve cut away the parachute just before hitting the ground and rolled to a stop. The parachute had caught on the treetops. He wondered if he should try and pull it free. It made a great visual cue for rescuers but would also notify the unknown enemy that shot them down as to their location. As he debated he saw the Ironman armor streak into the sky and explode. Luckily JARVIS’ transmission let him know Tony was safely on the ground and the rendezvous location. He resumed his task. In the end he had decided to pull it down, and found it was too tangled in the branches. As he pulled and yanked, he completely missed the stealthy approach by the Hulk, as one did not expect a giant green rage monster to be capable of sneaking up on a trained supersoldier like Captain America.

Hulk reached down and uprooted the offending tree, tipping the top down so the parachute came free. “Hulk help?”

Steve jumped as the treetop suddenly swung towards him, “Yes, thanks.”

Steve gathered the parachute up and attempted to fold it down small again. Hulk turned to the sky and roared in distress. Steve looked up to see Hulk’s distress. 

“Tinman go boom…” 

Steve was surprised by the sadness in that voice.

“No…” He stopped as Hulk turned to him angrily. “Yes, Tony blew up the armor but he’s safely on the ground and headed to meet up with Clint and Natasha. Your comms not working? Hulk shook his head. 

“Tony ok?”

“Yes, he is. So Hulk, nothing to smash here.” He was trying to be subtle, not wanting to offend Hulk, but he was lying to himself if he didn’t admit he was more comfortable with the shy scientist than the behemoth.

“Protect puny Bruce.” Hulk stated simply. “Too cold.”

Steve nodded. He should of thought about that. If Hulk left, Bruce would be naked except for the stretchy pants Tony and Bruce had managed to make after meetings with Reed Richards. 

“Hulk always warm, you warm, little red even little warm.”

Steve stopped and thought about what Hulk, or Bruce through Hulk, was telling him. “You mean the various versions of the supersoldier serum keep our bodies warmer.” 

Hulk nodded. “Cupid get cold. Tiny Tony get very cold.”

“Well, then we best get moving.”

***

Clint and Natasha had tried to direct the Quinjet away from where the missile had come from and towards the mountain base where they might be able to find a hiker’s cabin or cave to shelter in. When the parachute did not deploy they faced a minute of fear before Ironman flew to the rescue. After Tony had gotten the parachute open they figured he would follow them down but instead the saw him fly rapidly down and away. 

“Are you finding anyplace to shelter?” Natasha asked over the rushing wind.

“No cabins, but several shadows that might be cave openings not too far up the mountain.” Clint answered as they hit the ground. 

The cockpit ejection seat landed softly near the base of the mountain. 

“Did it seem as if the Quinjet almost dissolved around us?” Clint asked, wanting confirmation of his observations.

“Yes, do you think it was affecting Tony’s repulsors, too?” Natasha wondered.

“It certainly looked like it.” Clint sighed, wondering if their resident genius had made it down safely.

“I hope not. With the jet gone, backup communications are run by JARVIS through the suit. If that’s compromised…”

Before Natasha could finish that thought, JARVIS’ voice came through their comms to tell them the rendezvous point for the team and confirmed their fear as they watched the armor explode and heard the comms go dead.

They stared at each other for a moment before Clint sighed. “So everyone is headed here, but we can’t spend the night here. Shall we see if I managed to spot a cave or two on the way down?”

Natasha took out a lipstick and wrote a message to the others on the seat cushions. “Let’s get started.”


	3. Freezing Iron

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Baby it's cold outside.

Hawkeye had spotted three possible shelter locations: an old hunter’s shack, one small concrete bunker and what looked like it might be the mouth to a cave system. 

“So which should we check out first?” Clint asked.

“I thought you said no cabins?”

“It’s more of a lean-to or shack than a cabin.”

“And the bunker?”

“I started figuring where that missile came from and realized I had seen something suspicious at that location on the way down.”

“Ok, well the hunter’s shack has the best chance for useful supplies, the bunker is most likely trouble but could have useful intel, the cave is the least accessible and will be the most problematic if anyone is hurt.“ Natasha stated.

Clint’s head snapped up at that, “Who do you think is hurt?” 

“Stark. If the repulsors were failing, his landing may have been rough. And without the suit, how well is he protected from the elements?”

“I think the undersuit is heated,” Ciint’s voice trailed off. He understood why Tony was so secretive about his tech, but he realized he had no way of judging how much at risk the man might be without the suit. 

“So hunter’s shack first, bunker second, cave third.” They turned slightly to deviate towards the shack first.

*** 

Sometimes it sucked to be a genius. He headed as rapidly as he could toward the location JARVIS had indicated the cockpit had landed, their chosen rendezvous location. He could not risk working up a sweat to further chill him, but he knew he would be lucky to have an hour before he would be in serious trouble. He could not help but do the math…  
  
__The emissivity of a naked human body is e=0.90. Assuming an initial body temperature of 37 oC (98.6oF) and a body surface area of 1.6 m2, exposed to 0oC for 30 minutes how cold will I get?  
• P = e σ A (T14 – T24)  
• = 0.90 * 5.67 x 10-8 (3104 \- 2734) = 301 W  
• E = Pt = 301 * 30 * 60 = 5.4 x 105 J  
This would be a drop of ~2.1K down to 35oC or 94.8oF = hypothermia. Not good. Tony sighed. 

***

Natasha sighed. The shack was a disappointment. The roof and back wall had caved in. “Do you think anything is still useable?” 

Clint grabbed the roof section and pulled. The other walls fell but he was able to shift it enough to expose the shack’s meager contents. What few supplies that had been left were soaked and ruined. They found a cook pot and a couple of cans of stew that had not rusted through. They wrapped their finds in a damp woolen blanket. Less than ten minutes and they were on their way towards the bunker.

***

Tony stumbled in the snow. He looked down, but could not see what he had tripped over. He shook his head to try and clear it and looked up to get his bearings. He found his landmark on the mountain and headed off once again.

_Start over… I’m not naked. The jeans and T-shirts, though thin, are dark, so the emissivity is probably closer to e= 0.70. While there is no sign of snowmelt, it’s early afternoon, hottest part of the day, so hopefully above 0 oC so a baseline normal human like Clint probably has at least a couple of hours instead of 30 minutes. But..I have the arc reactor. Its housing is a cylinder of titanium approximately 4 inches in diameter extending 3.5 inches into my chest cavity. That works out to about 1.15 kg of titanium with a thermal conductivity of 540 Joules/Kg K. I calibrated the arc reactor baseline output to try and keep the metal at body temperature assuming a normal room temperature of 23oC so with a temperature differential over 2.5 times normal, I will be losing heat at a rate of… a rate of… _

He could feel sweat dripping down his face, It ticked down his back. Why am I so hot? He pulled off his long sleeve shirt and used it to wipe the sweat from his brow. He staggered forward. He wanted to rest, but was that the cockpit ejection seat in the distance. He pushed himself to keep moving forward, dropping his shirt in the snow. Something itched in his brain that he should hold onto it, but he was just too hot and tired to care. He continued onward. He promised himself he would rest on the padded leather seats he had designed.

***

The bunker was suspiciously empty. There was a fresh scorch mark, most likely from whatever had launched the missile, but the missile launcher was missing. There was broken glass from a light fixture, but none of the typical metal light fixtures were there. There was a seat cushion but no seat, a plastic keyboard, a strange collection of broken parts.

Clint looked over the mess. “What’s missing? What connects all these pieces?”

Natasha stared for a moment before she blurted out, “Metal?” 

“The Quinjet seemed to fall apart around us. If they developed a weapon that could dissolve metal, the riviets and aluminum airframe, the plane would fall apart.” Clint surmised. 

“And so would the metal wiring in the ejection seat,” Natasha suggested.

“And the IronMan suit.” They realized simultaneously.

***

Steve and Hulk trudged through the snow. Steve had a bad feeling as he found a shirt in the snow. Hulk sniffed it and announced, “Tinman’s!”

“Why would he take off clothing in the cold?” Steve addressed Hulk wishing he had Bruce to answer his question. Hulk just took off at a faster pace and Steve had to run to keep up. He just hoped Tony was at the rendezvous point. 

The sun was dipping low in the sky by the time the cockpit ejection seats came into view. Steve ran toward the seats and suddenly stopped, turning bright red. He was greeted by the sight of Tony…Stark’s naked body draped across the leather seats.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the delay, we lot electricity to half the house and then house guests. Hopefully the next chapter won't tale as long.


	4. Stripping Iron

As Clint and Natasha approached the rendezvous point, Clint saw Hulk bounding back and forth in the distance and Steve turned away, his face a bright red.

“Steve are you blushing?” Steve lowered his head.

Natasha smirked at his embarrassment as she asked, “Where’s Tony?”

“He’s on the cockpit seats.” Steve answered automatically and then added hastily, “Natasha, you shouldn’t…”

The two had already turned to witness Stark in his naked glory.

“Well that’s…” Clint began.

“Paradoxical undressing occurs in moderate to severe hypothermia.” Natasha stated calmly.

“Not good.” Clint finished. “Steve see if you can find his clothes, we need to get him warmed up.”

Hulk dropped Tony’s jeans and boxers by Steve and rushed over to the Quinjet ejection seats. “Tiny Tony too cold.” Hulk stated as he gently picked him up. Hulk sat and carefully arranged Tony in a frog position against him. He tucked Tony’s feet against his warm thighs and splayed Tony’s legs apart so his thighs were against Hulks warm belly and hip. Hulk pressed Tony’s chest tight against his and tucked Tony’s hands into his armpit. Finally he wrapped one big hand under Tony’s backside to support him and the other across Tony’s back and head. 

“That’s rather…intimate.” Steve coughed and blushed.

“Hulk has tucked Tony’s extremities into some of his warmest areas and exposed Tony’s femoral arteries to his direct body heat, and we know Hulk runs warmer than all of us.” Natasha sighed. “It’s the best we can do to warm him right now, until we get to shelter. We have his shirt, boxers, boots and jeans. See if you can find his undershirt.”

Hulk cuddled and supported Tony as if he was an infant, rocking him gently in his arms.

Natasha turned to Clint, “Think we could turn a parachute into an infant sling for them?” 

“Free up Hulk’s hands a bit for the climb?” Clint nodded. “Good thinking.”

The two made quick work of fashioning a sling, and then slipped his boots and Clint’s’s gloves on Tony, knowing that when Hulk stood he would no longer be able to keep Tony’s extremities warm. Natasha then retrieved the spare gloves from the remains of the Quinjet cockpit. Steve soon returned with Tony’s undershirt.

“How’s he doing?” Steve asked.

“No sign of frostbite on his fingers or toes, but we really won’t know until we get him warmed and conscious again.” Natasha stroked a hand through Tony’s hair, one of the few bit of Tony visible through Hulk’s hands.

Clint stood and looked worriedly into the distance. “It looks like a snowstorm is coming and we have about an hour’s hike up the mountain to the cave we found for shelter, so we had best get moving,”

Hulk stood carefully cradling his precious cargo. “Puny humans need shelter, we go.”

They began their hike up the mountain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait and short update. Traveled to a region of totality for the eclipse and then returned just in time to go back to work. Figured short chapter better than nothing. Hope to post another short chapter soon.


	5. Sheltering Iron

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Journey to shelter and erratic heartbeats.

It had begun snowing half an hour in, making the hike treacherous. As the wind picked up, Clint shivered. 

“Once we get to the base of the mountain, we need to collect some firewood to bring up to the cave. “ He rubbed his arms. “I still don’t get why Tony got so cold so fast. I’m only just starting to feel it; even with fewer clothes he shouldn’t have been approaching severe hypothermia that quickly.”

“Where cave? Hulk hurry. Tiny Tony heart not beat right.”

Three pairs of eyes turned to stare at Hulk and the frozen bundle of genius. 

“Is the arc reactor damaged?” Steve tried to pull Tony away from Hulk. Clint and Natasha shared a worried look. Hulk pulled Tony in closer. Tony began mumbling at the commotion.

Steve used his enhanced hearing to try and make out the words, “Metal housing…conductivity…rate of heat loss…chiller…”

Clint raised an eyebrow at that. “If the reactor housing is cooling his heart, which is then pumping chilled blood…” Clint began.

“No wonder he succumbed to the cold so fast.” Natasha finished.

Clint pointed out the cave and Hulk bounded off. Steve and Clint gathered three bundles of firewood and Natasha used the other parachute to bundle them together and tied them to their backs before following the Hulk up the mountainside. 

Two hours later they had all made their way up the cave. 

“Is there enough room in that cave for all of us?” Steve glared at the entrance. “It looks awfully small to house four people and the Hulk.” 

“It’s bigger on the inside,” Clint answered, rubbing his arms and heading inside. Natasha rolled her eyes and followed.

The narrow opening gave way to a large chamber with a natural chimney. The back of the chamber ended in an underground lake. Steve set to work building a fire where Clint indicated. Natasha spread Tony’s clothes out to dry and warm by the fire while Clint opened two cans of the stew they had found, diluting it with snow to make a watery soup that could warm and feed the team. They finished their tasks and settled in to warm themselves by the fire.

“Rescue will be delayed by the weather. “ Steve stated as he paced between the fire and the cave entrance, watching the progress of the storm.

Clint’s snarky comment in response to that was interrupted by a moan from Tony.

Hulk sat up. “Cave warm enough now, Tiny Tony need Puny Bruce.” He lay Tony gently on the parachute silk, then rolled aside and shifted back into Banner.

Banner quickly checked Tony over. “He’s warmer now. We should try to get him back into his clothes if they are warm and dry now.”

Natasha checked them over and nodded, and then she and Clint moved to redress the still unconscious genius. 

“Why did he take his clothes off in the first place if he was freezing to death?” Steve still could not wrap his mind around it.

“There are two main theories,” Bruce began. “One is that it is a cold-induced malfunction of the hypothalamus which regulates body temperature; the second is a loss of vasomotor tone. The muscles that have been constricting blood flow to the outer blood vessels become exhausted. As blood suddenly rushes to the surface, the victim feels overheated and well…”

“We get Stark naked!” Clint snickered. They had just finished redressing the man and dumped the parachute on Bruce, giving him more than just his stretchy pants to stay warm. He reclined against the wall and gestured for Clint to lean Tony against him.

Natasha noticed Bruce checking Tony’s pulse again. “Hulk said Tony’s heart wasn’t beating right?”

Bruce shrugged his shoulders, wondering what Hulk had picked up on when he felt Tony try to sit up.

“I didn’t anticipate the arc reactor housing getting that cold.” Tony’s voice was weak as he spoke. “The hypothermia caused my heart rate to slow, but the computer control for the pacemaker should have compensated. It seems to have developed a fault and I am getting a bit of cardiac dysrhythmia.“

“Pacemaker?” Natasha raised an eyebrow in surprise. 

“You know before I made the arc reactor, the electromagnet keeping shrapnel from my heart was powered by a car battery.” Natasha and Clint both nodded and Bruce took a deep breath, willing himself to not turn. Steve looked shocked, he knew Tony got the reactor after he was injured and kidnapped by the Ten Rings, but that was all.

“When they waterboarded me to persuade me , the exposed wires got wet and I got a side order of electrocution for torture order.” Tony paused to look into Bruce’s eyes, flickering between brown and green. “The sinoatrial node was damaged, so when I got back to the states I added a pacemaker. “

Bruce tried for a laugh as he looked at his fellow genius with concern, “You added a pacemaker?”

“The first pacemaker was made by an engineer, the epoxy coating made in a plastic cup,” Tony grinned at his fellow scientist. “I made a high tech version with computer control to adapt to the demands of being Ironman.” 

“Any chance the weapon that took down the Quinjet is effecting you…” Clint asked the question no one else wanted to broach.

“Don’t think so,” Tony coughed and winced, a hand pressed against the arc reactor. Bruce frowned at his fingers which were still tracking Tony’s pulse. “JARVIS thought it was metal consuming nanobots, which is why I blew the suit and ditched the undersuit.” Tony lay his head down on Bruce’s chest and closed his eyes.

“The nanobots should shut down after running out of food.”

“Speaking of food…”Natasha brought over the stewpot and single spoon. “You both need to eat.”

“Not hungry,” Tony mumbled.

“ Где мой ведомый?” Natasha scolded.

“Fine, if Bruce eats, too.” Tony mumbled and opened his mouth. Natasha smirked and alternated between feeding the two geniuses until Tony fell asleep and Bruce claimed he was full and drifted off soon after.

“What did you say to Tony to get him to eat?” Clint wondered.

“I asked him where my wingman was…” Natasha answered as she walked back to the fire, a sway in her hips. 

Steve spluttered and Clint laughed as they settled in to finish off the stew.


	6. Warming Iron

With the super soldier serum, Steve needed less sleep, so he took the first watch. He listened to the wind howl outside the cave entrance while staring into the fire. The fire had made the cave toasty warm in the main chamber, but a cold draft blew in from the entrance. Steve shivered and moved closer to the fire. Clint and Natasha were curled together conserving heat. Tony was resting against Bruce. He appeared to be sweating and started to mumble and thrash in his sleep.

_  
He let off another blast of the flamethrowers. His weapons in the hands of terrorists would be up in flames soon. He could feel the heat of the burning fires around him. Moments before the main explosion, he took off for his first flight. Minutes later he was away, flying, falling, crashing into the desert’s scorching sands. Trudging through unending desert sands…  
_

Steve moved to wake Tony and reached out to grab his arm. 

“Don’t grab him. If his nightmare is flashback to Afghanistan, grabbing him will only make it worse.” Clint suddenly ordered causing Steve to freeze. 

Natasha scooted over. “Hey Tony, wake up. It’s your turn to pick the next movie.” She poked his leg with her bare feet.

“No, let him sleep, more popcorn for me!” Clint exclaimed loudly.

Bruce’s laughter rumbled deep in his chest, gently shaking the genius using him for a pillow. “If you want more popcorn, Clint, you just have to ask. Hey Tony, can you sit up a bit?”

Tony blinked his eyes open. “What, oh, sorry Bruce.”

“No Tony it’s ok, stay still. I'm afraid you might be running a fever. You were thrashing in you sleep,” Bruce rested a cool hand on Tony’s forehead.

“Why were you talking about movie night? We are in a cave.” Tony rubbed his hand over his face, trying to wake up.

“Did talking about the how you got the arc reactor trigger your nightmare?” Steve asked, and was greeted by dirty looks from Clint and Natasha and Tony curling away from the team and rubbing his hand over the arc reactor. 

“Tony, is the reactor hurting you?” Bruce asked quietly.

“No more than normal, but the casing is hot. I probably got too close to the fire, that’s why my temperature is elevated. “

“That makes sense, but your pulse is still elevated.” 

“Yeah, cave.” Tony swallowed hard. “So how’s the weather?”

“Still a blizzard.” Steve stated.

“We are warm and dry in this cave. There is a underground lake in the next chamber for water. Hopefully we have sufficient firewood to wait out the storm.” Natasha stated practically.

Her announcement seemed to calm everyone but Tony.

“So, we have a couple more can of stew for dinner, but I’m hungry now,” Clint whined playfully. “What’s for breakfast?”

“Hey Bruce, had you gotten any BannerBars into our supplies?”

“No, but I put some of the StarkBars in the ready bags.”

“What are you two going on about?” 

“Well, you know how after Hulking out Bruce needs extra calories to recover, but can rarely stay awake long enough to eat more that a protein bar?” Everyone nodded. “I suggested Bruce use his biochemistry knowledge to invent something more nutrient dense. So they are his creation and should be called BannerBars.”

“Which I could not have done without your suggestions, lab facilities, funding, input…”

“So call them Avengers bars and give me one!” Clint shouted in frustration.

“What flavors is it?” Natasha asked as Steve started tossing them out.

“ Banner/Hulk’s is Honey, Banana and Pistachio.” Tony smirked.

“Stark’s is Cinnamon, Strawberry and golden raisin.” Bruce smiled, “Not quite hot-rod red and gold…”

“I would have expected cherry for red…” Natasha mused.

“No that would be Captain America’s Cherry, Blueberry and Vanilla Yogurt chips.”

“So what’s mine like.” Clint was bouncing in anticipation.

“Bird seed of course.” Was Tony’s smart-assed reply.

“So Black Widow’s has bugs?” Clint joked.

Tony shook his head at the red-head’s angry glare, but Banner added, “Insects are an accepted protein source in many parts of the world.”  
“It’s got blackberries and hourglass shaped strawberry yogurt chips with a webbing of vanilla yogurt, but let us know if you want any changes.” Tony blurted out quickly under Natasha’s glare.

“Clint, yours has raspberry and sunflower seed, chia and quinoa grains.” Bruce filled as he passed out the bars.

The next few minutes were filled with contented munching and passing around the water bottle to wash it down.

"Those are actually quite good." Steve commented as he got up to replenish the fire.

Tony smiled, "SI wouldn't put out an inferior product, and I predict that BannerBars will be a great success."

"If I let you call them BannerBars, would you rest some more?" Bruce negotiated. He wanted the other man to rest some more, still worried about Tony’s rapid and occasionally irregular heartbeat. Tony had almost drifted off to sleep when the ground shuddered and the cave walls began to shake.


	7. Quaking Iron

Tony awoke to the ground shaking under him and the cave walls crumbling. A roaring sound filled his ears. He knew he was going to die in the cave, but he didn’t expect it to be from a cave in unless the terrorists managed to blow themselves up. He curled up, arms protecting his head, expecting the falling rocks to start crushing him, but it never happened. As the shaking stopped he opened his eyes. It was pitch black, thick dust and smoke illuminated in the blue glow of the arc reactor. Coughing from the dust until it started to clear; he was surprised to find himself looking up into the Hulk’s face. 

“Hulk?”

“Mountain fall down. Tony move now.”

“Where?” Tony struggled to his feet under the protective curve of Hulk’s body.

“Over here!” Clint’s voice rang out from the direction of the underground lake. 

Tony turned toward the sound to find Clint knee deep in the lake, squinting in the light of the arc reactor. He scrambled towards him, halting as his feet hit the icy water. “Can we get out? Where are the others?”

“Steve and Nat made it out the way we came in. Steve was protecting her with the shield. But the entrance collapsed after that.”

“We’re trapped?” Tony felt himself freeze. His rational mind knew this was not helpful, but angry voices from the past echoed in his head. He could feel his breathing speed up and found him body starting to shake. He knew he was spiraling into a panic attack, but could not pull himself out.

“Tony! Tony snap out of it. You aren’t back there! Come on, try to breathe with me.“ Clint reached out to grab Tony’s hand, and he pulled away, moving back towards the collapsing cavern, backing up until he tripped over a stalagmite and fell into the icy water. 

Hulk roared in frustration, but didn’t move from where he was holding up the cavern roof.

Clint though a moment, and then decided to see if Tony’s tendency towards self-sacrifice and care for the team could be used to pull him out of a panic attack. “Tony, I think I need some help over here. Tony, I’m bleeding. I got hit in the head; I can’t see how bad it is. Tony help me!"

Tony shook his head. Clint, Clint was calling for help. He needed help and Tony was having a selfish, stupid panic attack. “Pull yourself together, Stark!” Tony scolded himself and used the stalagmite to push himself upright. 

“Are you ok?” Tony staggered over made his way over to Clint noting the blood streaming from a cut on his forehead. 

“You tell me?” Clint knew he was ok, it was just a graze, but head injuries always look bad since they always bleed more.

“Not that kind of a doctor, even more so than Bruce, he’s at least into the squishy sciences. You’re bleeding. Are you dizzy; do you think you might have a concussion?“

Clint started to believe this might not have been the best idea. “No, I don’t think…” Tony interrupted his response.

“Hey, big guy! We need Brucie over here. Think you can stop playing Captain Caveman and let Bruce come out and play doctor?”

Hulk considered for a moment and then pushed the rock over his head upwards and bounded towards the pair. 

Rock rumbled and tumbled down from the ceiling. Hulk was obscured from view. Tony felt a moment of panic for the big guy until he came skidding to a stop in the soft mud of the cave floor. He paused for a moment, “Birdie hurt?”

Clint shivered. One moment he was being examined by a large green eye, the next moment he was holding an armful of exhausted scientist. 

“Who’s hurt?” Bruce stammered, struggling upright. He looked over at Tony who seemed pale and shaken, but Tony pointed at Hawkeye who was still holding him steady. He turned to look at Clint more closely. He could see the blood streaming from a cut near Clint’s hairline. “Damn, I need more light.”

Tony walked over and lifted his shirt, elluminating Clint’s injury with the full glow of the arc reactor.

As Clint squinted in the bright light, Bruce announced, “Pupilary contraction is normal for both eyes, so I don’t think he has a concussion. We just don’t have anything to patch up that cut.”

Clint pulled off his t-shirt and tore off a strip from the bottom. Bruce made a small pad of fabric and then used the rest of the strip to hold it in place. 

“Hopefully that will apply enough pressure to stop the bleeding until we can get out.”

“But can we get out?” Tony gazed forlornly at the rocks and rubble that blocked the cave entrance, sealing them in.

“Well, we can wait for rescue, or we can explore where this draft that I’ve been feeling is coming from.” Clint suggested.

“We should wait for rescue,” Bruce said calmly. “But why did the cave collapse in the first place. I thought this area was geologically stable.”

“It is,” Tony shook his head. ‘But it is rich in metal ores: Iron, copper and nickel oxide. The quinjet crashed into the base of the mountain. If the nanobots got into an exposed vein…”

Clint swallowed hard. “The whole mountain could come down.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the log gap in posting / irregular posting schedule. This school year has been difficult with 5 preps and teaching a new course.


	8. Crumbling Iron

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And the walls come tumbling down...

Steve had been in the process of waking Natasha for her watch when the rumbling began. She had realized what it meant a second before he did and began yelling for Clint to wake up. The man startled awake rolling to his feet as rock crashed down from the ceiling into the area he had been seconds before. The last thing he saw before the fire was extinguished was Bruce transforming into Hulk and shielding Tony with his bulk. The debris forced them to retreat toward the exit, using his shield to protect them from the falling rock. As they exited onto the ledge, the last of the warm air was swept away by the biting cold of the storm. He stared out into the gloom with the snow swirling around him, and wondered if he was forever doomed to lose his friends, his family, on snowy mountains.

“Steve, Steve are you alright?”

“What?”

“Are you hurt?” Natasha was running her hands over his body, feeling for injuries and wishing she had a penlight. Steve had been staring out into space for several minutes, breathing heavily as if he had run a race rather than the 20 feet needed to escape the cave. “Steve, answer me!”

“No, I’m not hurt.” Steve shook himself and gestured to the cave entrance. “But the others…” His voice trailed off, his thoughts again filled with images of bodies, broken and buried in the rubble. 

“Clint was moving towards the underground lake, where the ceiling still seemed stable. Bruce had transformed into Hulk and was protecting Tony.” Natasha grabbed his arm, trying to get him to look at her. “Yes, they are trapped, but they could still be ok.“

Steve turned and stared at the wall of rocks in front of him; he started to grab and heave rocks away from the entrance. He had only moved a few before the ledge gave way beneath them.

Natasha screamed as she fell reaching out to Steve. He caught her, making the catch he had failed to make when Bucky fell. He stood there just holding on for a moment before pulling her up to him. He had one arm around her waist and had pulled the shield up to protect them when the cliff collapsed completely and they fell together. Steve used his shield to cushion their fall, practically sledding down the mountain’s face to safety.

*** 

The whole mountain could come down. Tony thoughts were racing. If this section is collapsing, then there is probably close to a vein of ore running beneath us, and as the nanites devour the ore, the cavern system collapse. Also, the nanites are too close to the arc reactor. “I think we need to get away from this area, so let’s follow our canary and checkout Hawkeye’s draft.” 

Before they could begin to move another tremor shook the ground and he was thrown to his knees in the cold muddy water. He was trapped in a cave. The past five years were for nothing. He was going to die in a cave after all. Tony felt his heart pounding inside the reactor casing and his breathing was speeding up. It hurt to take a deep breath and his shallow pants were not getting enough air to clear his head. Dizziness overwhelmed him and he collapsed, plunging face down into the dark icy water. In his mind he was back in Afghanistan and he fought against the hands trying to push his head under the murky water’s surface. 

“Shit, he’s having a panic attack.” Clint shouted trying to grab Tony’s arm to pull him out of the icy water and getting elbowed in the face for his trouble. “Bruce, we’ve got to get him out of the water.”

Bruce felt the Hulk scream inside him, “Help Tinman!” Bruce grabbed the waistband of Tony’s jeans with unexpected strength and hauled him out. Tony staggered, trying to regain his feet, only to slip in the rich cave mud and fall heavily to the ground, scraping his arm against the cave wall.

“Tony, Tony breathe with me, you are going to hyperventilate if you don’t calm down. “ Bruce slipped down next to him and placed Tony’s hand on his chest, knowing a hand near the arc reactor would only make him panic more. 

“Hey Tony, I’ve got explosive arrows and grappling arrows. Do you think you could make a sticky arrow? Let me stick an arrow to glass, maybe swing from it. Could you make an arrow like that?”

The combination of Bruce’s calming focus on breathing and Clint’s prattling on suggesting increasing more difficult engineering challenges finally brought the genius back to the present and he slumped in exhaustion.

“Hey Tones…” the archer began quietly, “I know you’d like to rest now, but how about we see if we can find a way out first.” 

“Is the…,” Tony gasped for breath and swallowed hard before continuing, “Is the draft still there?”

Clint got up to feel for the draft while Bruce quickly checked Tony over.

“It’s still there!” He returned to Tony’s side and together Bruce and Clint hauled the exhausted man to his feet.

“Great, let’s get out of here.” Tony had a brief coughing fit but managed a weak smile as he gestured for Clint to lead the way. They staggered together down the passageway with the draft in the hope that it would lead to a way out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the almost 3 month delay in posting and then posting a mere 900 words. Unfortunately as a teacher with 5 preps, 1 new, 2 in the International Baccalaureate program with internal assessments to grade in the next month, and working on National Board re-certification with my e-portfolio due in May, I expect that this story will be on hiatus until June. I promise this is not abandoned and will be completed, but I fear writing must be placed on the back burner for real life.


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